January 7, 2009 Archives

Joel and Ethan Coen are back among the nominees this year for Writers Guild of America Awards. KPCC’s Brian Watt has more on the contenders.

Brian Watt: The brothers Coen won last year’s Writers Guild Award for best Adapted Screenplay with “No Country for Old Men.”

This go-round, they turn up in the Original Screenplay category for “Burn After Reading.” They’re up against Woody Allen for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Dustin Lance Black for “Milk,” Tom McCarthy for “The Visitor,” and Robert Siegel for “The Wrestler.”

Another set of brothers is nominated for best Adapted Screenplay. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan wrote “The Dark Knight,” based on DC Comics’ “Batman.” Also in the category: The screenwriters behind “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Doubt,” “Frost/Nixon,” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”

From TV, the writing teams behind “Dexter,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Lost,” “Mad Men,” and “The Wire” are vying for best Dramatic Series. Scribes from “30 Rock,” “The Simpsons,” “Entourage,” “The Office,” and “Weeds” square off in the Comedy Series category.

Tools

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’s restarting stalled budget talks with legislative leaders to get a quick deficit-cutting deal finished. The state government is on the verge of paying out IOUs if it doesn’t close some or all of a budget deficit that could reach as high as $42 billion over the next year and a half.

The governor says neither Democrats nor Republicans in Sacramento have done enough to solve the crisis.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: “It’s not enough for Republicans just to say that, ‘We wanna see first the cuts before we even talk about revenues.’ And it’s not enough for Democrats to say, ‘We wanna first see extra revenues before we talk about cuts.’ Our state needs both in order to weather this crisis.”

Democrats passed an $18 billion deficit reduction package that the governor rejected. He’s proposed his own bigger package that included enough spending cuts, revenue increases, and borrowing to cover the deficit. But so far, he’s had no takers from either the Democrats or the Republicans.

Ed Royce: “It’s an agency full of government bureaucrats who have little understanding of how the markets function, and if we replaced those bureaucrats with individuals with a better understanding of our markets, that would help prevent these types of episodes.”

Lawmakers from both major parties are expressing dismay that federal regulators didn’t clue in to alleged problems with Madoff’s financial statements. Royce, a Republican, urged better enforcement of existing regulations.

Tools

Congressional hearings are underway this week on Bernard Madoff’s alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Members of the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets say they’re more about investigating this scandal - and preventing a future one - than about finger-pointing.

But Southland Congressman Brad Sherman told KPCC’s “Patt Morrison” that if federal regulators had done their job, they’d have uncovered fraud a long time ago.

Brad Sherman: “What they would have seen is two things, first a figure of $17 billion for the assets that Madoff was claiming to have and they would have seen an auditor’s report from an audit firm that no one ever heard of. And if they had bothered to find out that that audit firm had only one CPA, they would have realized that no proper audit could have been conducted.”

Sherman, a Democrat, said that all sitting members of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission should offer to resign for failing to read Madoff’s annual financial statements close enough.

Tools

Federal authorities have arrested a Malibu man for allegedly participating in a Ponzi scheme that netted him and a partner millions of dollars. More on the story from KPCC’s Brian Watt.

Brian Watt: In this alleged racket, the draw was foreign currency exchange. Forty-three-year-old Charles Martin of Malibu worked with John Walsh of the Chicago area for a company called One World.

They allegedly diverted millions from a pot of money One World customers thought the men would use to secure foreign currency trades. Federal prosecutors say they even recruited new customers when the pot was running low.

And, the feds say, they didn’t just sit on the money. A former One World colleague told agents that Charles Martin spent like a billionaire. Millions at restaurants and elite hotels, on private jet flights, and a fleet of luxury vehicles.

Bank records also suggest Martin and Walsh had stars in their eyes: they allegedly used diverted dollars to finance production of a movie called Order of Redemption. If they’re convicted, redemption could cost each of them up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Tools

Now that a federal appeals court has upheld the city of Los Angeles’ right to limit outdoor advertising, L.A. plans to exercise that right as much as possible, says David Michaelson of the City Attorney’s office.

David Michaelson: “The city planning department is right now preparing new regulations in a comprehensive extensive way governing all aspects of off-site signage, billboards, super graphics, digital signs, you name it. Those new regulations, in a draft form, will probably be released to the city planning commission within a few weeks now.”

Michaelson spoke with KPCC’s “Patt Morrison.” The appeals court invalidated a billboard company’s challenge to the city on free speech grounds. Although the ruling allows Los Angeles more flexibility in limiting outdoor ads, Michaelson says the city’s facing challenges from other advertising companies.

Tools

Community activists in the northeast San Fernando Valley are celebrating today. Home Depot is dropping a long-term effort to build a store in Sunland-Tujunga.

Opponents had mounted an intense campaign against the store, saying it would drive small hardware stores out of business and hurt the local environment. Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher talked about why the company is giving up.

Kathryn Gallagher: “It’s twofold. Given the steps required by the city as well as the current economic landscape, and both of those just point to the fact that it just simply doesn’t make sense, business sense, for us to pursue this project.”

Gallagher spoke with KPCC’s “Patt Morrison.” As part of its decision not to pursue a store in Sunland-Tujunga, Home Depot is dropping a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

Tools

In a new report, the union that represents instructors at Cal State University campuses takes aim at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts.

Schwarzenegger’s proposed cutting millions of dollars from the state’s education system to help close a big budget gap. California Faculty Association president Lillian Taiz says that years of cuts have already created obstacles for low-income students in the Cal State system.

Lillian Taiz: “They can’t get out in four years. They’re lucky to get out in six years. It could take longer. They’re going to go head over heels in debt, if they can figure out how to fill out the forms. Their library isn’t open as many hours as it should be.”

The California Faculty Association’s report indicates that California ranks 49th of 50 states in educational attainment – the percentage of the adult population that holds at least a high school diploma.

Tools

Home Depot is dropping its effort to build a store in Sunland-Tujunga in the San Fernando Valley. The company says it no longer makes business sense to pursue the store, given the recession, and the cost of complying with the city of L.A.’s environmental regulations.

Community activists fought a long battle against Home Depot. They felt it would kill small hardware stores and harm the environment. Joe Barrett is chairman of the No on Home Depot Campaign.

Joe Barrett: “The site is surrounded by homes on three sides and there’s an elementary school less than 500 feet away, and the type of traffic that Home Depot attracts is industrial in nature, a lot of trucks.

“And what we really needed, and what our community plan calls for, is a neighborhood retail center that serves the needs of the community, and we never felt like Home Depot fit that profile.”

Tools

Defense attorneys for former Orange County sheriff Mike Carona are finishing their closing arguments today. They’re struggling to overcome the testimony of former assistant sheriff Don Haidl – the Newport Beach businessman who was Carona’s biggest political backer. He told jurors about alleged schemes he and Carona cooked up to bring in political money.

Prosecutors also used secretly-recorded conversations between Haidl and Carona in which the two men talk about what to say to investigators. KPCC’s Susan Valot says the defense is telling the jury the tapes don’t show a dishonest Carona, as prosecutors claim.

Susan Valot: “They’re saying that Carona just flat out didn’t do what prosecutors are alleging. They say that if you listen to the secretly-recorded tapes, that he’s actually telling the truth, because in the tapes, he doesn’t outright say, ‘OK. Well, this is our cover story.’”

Prosecutors say tapes spell out a scheme by Carona to sell Haidl access to his office. They say he laundered illegal campaign contributions for Carona - and gave the former sheriff a thousand dollars a month in cash bribes.

Closing arguments were supposed to end today - but the pace has been slow. They might last until tomorrow.

Tools

A long battle between Home Depot and community activists in the San Fernando Valley is over. Home Depot is giving up on its plans to build a store in Sunland-Tujunga. The company blamed city regulations and the overall economy.

Opponents objected to the store on the grounds that it would drive small hardware stores out of business and bring too much heavy truck traffic to the area. They want the site to be a pedestrian-friendly shopping center with such things as restaurants, bookstores, and theaters. Joe Barrett is chairman of the No on Home Depot Campaign.

Joe Barrett: “If we don’t have the right development on that site, then we would have to live with the consequences for about two generations, and that’s how long Home Depot holds the lease to the property.

“So, we felt, even if we have to get a vacant site for a while, that ultimately it’s better if we work towards getting the right type of development there.”

Barrett spoke with KPCC’s “Patt Morrison.” In giving up its plans for a Sunland-Tujunga store, Home Depot dropped a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.

Tools

In a new report, the union that represents instructors at Cal State University campuses takes aim at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts.

Schwarzenegger’s proposed cutting millions of dollars from the state’s education system to help close a big budget gap. California Faculty Association president Lillian Taiz says that years of cuts have already created obstacles for low-income students in the Cal State system.

Lillian Taiz: “They can’t get out in four years. They’re lucky to get out in six years. It could take longer. They’re going to go head-over-heels in debt, if they can figure out how to fill out the forms. Their library isn’t open as many hours as it should be.”

The California Faculty Association’s report indicates that California ranks 49th of 50 states in educational attainment, the percentage of the adult population that holds at least a high school diploma.

Tools

Passengers on a Los Angeles-bound Delta flight today subdued a man who claimed he was carrying a bomb, airline officials say. More on the story from KPCC’s Cheryl Devall.

Cheryl Devall: Delta Flight 110 from Atlanta was approaching L.A. International Airport when one passenger allegedly said he had a bomb. As the jet taxied toward the gate, the man made a move for one of the doors. That’s when other passengers tackled him and restrained him with plastic ties.

Because this happened on a commercial flight, it falls under federal jurisdiction, so the FBI’s investigating along with L.A. airport police. A search of the plane and the luggage aboard revealed that there was no bomb.

None of the 271 passengers or the crew were hurt, and the scuffle did not interfere with other flights at the airport. Authorities detained the man for questioning after the incident.

Tools

The L.A. teachers union is reacting angrily to the possibility of large-scale teacher layoffs. The LAUSD says budget problems may force it to lay off more than 2,000 of its newer teachers this year. AJ Duffy is president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

AJ Duffy: “These are the teachers of tomorrow, and if you get rid of them now, they are gone forever. They will not come back to this district. They will go to Florida. They will go to Illinois.They’ll go to any other place where they can get a job, or worse than that, they’ll go to another profession. What we are looking at here is the total devastation of public education in California, and that is a tragedy.”

Duffy spoke on KPCC’s “AirTalk.” LAUSD says if it moves forward with the layoffs, 1700 elementary school teachers and 600 middle and high school math and English teachers would receive pink slips.

Tools

The LAUSD’s Chief Operating Officer spoke on KPCC’s “AirTalk” today about the district’s financial troubles. Dave Holmquist said L.A. Unified may have no choice but to lay off more than 2,000 of its newer teachers this school year.

Dave Holmquist: “Well, we certainly hope it doesn’t damage the profession of teaching. I mean, this is all budget driven. We aren’t doing this but for the fiscal crisis that we are in. I mean, certainly we don’t like to lay off teachers, and we don’t want to have to do it mid-year. Fortunately, we do have some out-of-classroom teachers, so while it will be a disruption to learning, we hope to minimize that if it becomes necessary to do so.”

LAUSD says the state’s fiscal mess has blown a $250 million hole in the L.A. public school budget.

The teachers who might receive mid-year pink slips have less than two years’ experience, meaning they have fewer job protections than teachers with more seniority.

Tools

Closing arguments in the federal corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona are slowly plodding along in Santa Ana. Defense attorneys are trying to punch holes into each of the 64 criminal allegations that make up the prosecution’s conspiracy charge. Carona is accused of taking thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions in exchange for doling out favors as sheriff.

KPCC reporter Susan Valot is in the courtroom. She says the jury is hanging in there as the arguments drag on and on.

Susan Valot: They’ve been sitting there for two months, listening to the testimony from dozens of witnesses from both sides. And now, they’ve sat through, since Tuesday, closing arguments.

It was likely that they were supposed to have gotten the case today… and now, that’s not so clear. They may not get the case today after all. They may get it tomorrow.

Defense attorney Jeff Rawitz told jurors that prosecutors charged Carona with “everything in the world” to get a conviction. The prosecution gets rebuttal time this afternoon.

Tools

The day after Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed another Democratic budget plan, Republican assemblyman Chuck DeVore insisted that the state can close its deficit without hiking taxes. He claims that California has more government than it can afford.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore: “You’d only have to go back to a budget four years ago, the budget of 2004-2005, and if we adopted that budget we’d be in balance. That’s how much government has grown. The budget four years ago was $78 billion. Now, were people dying in the streets four years ago? Were our children not being educated four years ago? Of course not.”

DeVore spoke on KPCC’s AirTalk. Democratic state lawmakers tried for a second time to advance a spending plan that raised some taxes and cut other state spending. They’d hoped to approve it without any Republican support. State Republicans and anti-tax groups are suing over that budget strategy because they say it’s illegal.

Tools

The state budget is the focus of Governor Schwarzenegger’s press conference this afternoon. Yesterday, Schwarzenegger vetoed a Democratic budget proposal that included a mix of spending cuts and tax hikes. Democratic leaders suggest he bowed to pressure from anti-tax groups. The governor’s spokesman Aaron McLear denies that.

Aaron McLear: “We’re not really sure what those comments refer to. The governor’s been very clear from the outgo that he needs to have economic stimulus to create jobs, and he needs to reduce government spending before he can support any proposal. The Democrats yesterday sent down same proposal they passed three weeks ago, which for a variety of reasons was unacceptable to the governor, and not good enough to for the state.”

Republicans have filed a lawsuit along with anti-tax groups against the Democratic budget proposal. They say it’s illegal because it raises taxes with only a simple majority vote of the legislature, not the two-thirds vote state law requires.

Tools

The Democratic leader of the State Senate says he’s “perplexed” as to why Democrats have been unable to reach a budget agreement with Governor Schwarzenegger. Yesterday he vetoed the Democrats’ $18 billion budget plan.

Senate President Pro-tem Darrell Steinberg maintained that Democrats had met the governor more than halfway on his proposals to stimulate the economy. But Steinberg told KPCC’s Larry Mantle that his party was unwilling to go all the way.

Senator Darrell Steinberg: “What the governor wanted was a plan that allowed him and his reps to set aside any environmental permit if they deemed it to be an obstacle to expediting the transportation project. We believe that is simply bad public policy.”

A spokesman for the governor says the Democratic proposal raised taxes but didn’t cut spending enough.

Republicans and anti-tax groups have filed suit to stop the plan. They insist the plan is illegal because it would raise taxes without requiring a two-thirds vote.

Tools

American astronomers launched a year long celebration of their science last night [TUE] in Long Beach. The International Year of Astronomy is meant to raise public awareness of astronomy, and of the importance of dark skies to the science.

John Mason: “Yesterday evening we went out, and there was Venus and Mercury and Jupiter placed across the ocean. So even though you’ve got a lot of light pollution in the cities, outside the cities it struck me that your air was actually clearer.”

Mason’s one of about 2500 members of the American Astronomy Society at the academic conference. It continues through tomorrow.

Tools

Thousands of serious stargazers are in Long Beach this week for a conference of the American Association of Astronomers. This year’s the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope and as a result, the International Year of Astronomy.

Doug Isbell co-chairs the U.S. effort this year. He’s trying to interest more people in the science of the skies.

Doug Isbell: “Astronomy is like every science, it’s based on evidence. It’s based on repeatable experiments. And the idea is that no one person knows everything, and we should go out and try to understand what we see in the natural world and test it out and try to make better measurements, and challenge ourselves and our theories, and figure out what’s our past and what’s our fate.”

Isbell says American astronomers want to raise awareness of nighttime light pollution and distribute a low-cost telescope to kids, two of the International Year’s big goals.